The fundamentals of social media engagement; common sense, not tips and tricks.

It’s very convenient for social media marketing firms to make the fundamentals of social media engagement out to be more difficult than they really are. The secret to success is basic, common sense, and the fundamentals of social media engagement follows the same rules that govern real life business networks and relationships.

I hope this is the simplest and clearest thing you’ve ever heard about the fundamentals of social media engagement for small business. Here it goes:

In order to successfully market your small business through social media you need to do two things:

(1) Grow and nurture your online networks

(2) Create and share great content

Let me say that again.

In order to successfully market your small business through the fundamentals of social media engagement, you need to do two things:

(1) Grow and nurture your online networks

(2) Create and share great content

No secrets. No tips. No tricks. Just common sense.

Your small business social media marketing efforts start with you – the business owner and executives.

If you haven’t put the time into the fundamentals of social media engagement, effectively building and nurturing your own, personal, online networks (your human marketing platform), then your social media efforts will likely be an uphill battle. There aren’t any tips or tricks to shortcut the fundamentals of social media engagement and the process it takes to get there. It’s a commitment very much like going to networking events, trade shows and business expos with all of the necessary follow up.

Your social media success will be determined by your capacity to grow your online networks and strengthening those relationships through the fundamentals of social media engagement. That means commenting, posting, tweeting, sharing, retweeting, liking, plussing, friending, following, connecting…well you get the point. It’s a daily commitment and there is no way around it.

You need to give your online networks reasons to tell their networks about you and your business.

Having big networks and great relationships will only take you so far. If you want to get people talking about you online and telling their friends about your business, you must create and share great content. This is the major part of the fundamentals of social media engagement.

Whether you are sharing great industry related articles, writing killer blog posts, designing stunning infographics, or filming compelling interviews, you need to be creating and sharing something that your online networks will find valuable enough to share with their networks.

This is what makes social media work. It’s the truth about what it takes to be successful marketing your small business through the fundamentals of social media engagement. And again, there aren’t any tips, tricks or secrets to give you a shortcut.

If you want to market your small business successfully through social media, you need to keep your ground game strong. Keep building new relationships, making more contacts and satisfying customers. Use these relationships as the foundation to grow and nurture your online networks. In order to get these folks talking about your business you need to create and share great content that they will want to share with their friends and networks.

If you are doing this, and following the fundamentals of social media engagement, then maybe you are ready for some social media tips and tricks. Not a moment sooner…